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Loïe Fuller – light, colour, shape, and space
For the non-dancers amongst us, the name Loïe Fuller may not ring a bell, but feel assured, you have encountered several images of this extraordinary trailblazing American dancer. Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) revolutionised dance. At a time when ballet was in decline and the dancers at the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère performed the voguish Can… Read more
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Dancing dogs and cats
There is nothing unusual about dogs and cats appearing in paintings. We frequently see them sleeping, eating, jumping and playing around. But how often have you seen a dancing dog or dancing cat? Now, I understand, I am pushing the term dancing to the very limits. When speaking of dance, dogs and cats are not… Read more
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Nymphs, muses, and putti dancing a round
Nymphs, muses, and putti are not the first figures that spring to mind when discussing art in The Low Countries. More likely our thoughts turn to peasant festivals, tavern scenes, landscapes, and portraits by celebrated artists like Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, and Jan Steen. And yet, at a time when these and… Read more
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Circle dances – bizarre, eerie, and endearing
The circle dance, the most ancient of all dances, embodies varying emotions and qualities. There are, amongst other forms, folk dances, community dances, rituals, sacred dances, medicine dances, and religious dances. All these dances have a different character and distinctive purpose. Artists of The Low Countries regularly included images of peasants joyfully dancing a circle… Read more
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Peasant festivals – the circle dance
Circle dances have existed since the dawn of civilization; they belong to all ages and all nationalities. Artists, from the earliest times, have depicted the circle dances in sculpture, murals, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings. This post will focus on images of circle dances, as danced in villages, by Netherlandish artists of the 16th and early… Read more
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Peasant Festival – Bruegel’s Peasant Dance
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was by no means the first Netherlandish artist to paint peasants or peasant festivals, but he is unquestionably the most renowned. Bruegel’s earliest images of peasant festivals, like the slightly earlier Pieter van der Borcht, present the viewer a bird’s eye perspective of an entire village square where rustic folk are… Read more
14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne Adriaen van Ostade Albrecht Dürer Alma-Tadema art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs Crispijn de Passe the Elder dance Dance/Dancers Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Flemish Art Frans Francken II Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Hans Bol Harmen Meurs Henri Braakensiek Herman Bieling Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Francken the Younger illuminated manuscript Isaac Israels Isaac van Ostade Jacob Grimmer Jacob Savery I Jacobus van Looy Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Mandijn & followers Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Sierhuis Jan Sluijters Jan Steen Jean-Baptiste Vanmour Jean de Wavrin Jean Froissart Johan Dijkstra Karel Appel Karel van Mander Kees Maks Kees van Dongen Leo Gestel Loyset Liédet Lucas van Valckenborch Maarten van Heemskerck Maastricht Hours Maerten de Vos Marius Bauer Marten van Cleve Mommie Schwarz Paolo Fiammingo/Pauwels Franck Pieter Aertsen Pieter Balten/Peeter Baltens Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Codde Pieter de Bloot Pieter van der Borcht Pieter van der Heyden Piet Mondrian Piet van der Hem Romance of Alexander Roman de la Rose Rothschild Canticles Salome Sebald Beham Simon Bening Stallman Pim Tango Theo van Doesburg Vincent van Gogh Willem de Zwart Willy Sluiter
About me
As a young aspiring dancer I loved to ponder over the magnificent paintings created by Edgar Degas. How his ballerinas inspired me. The atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the beautiful tutus and the hard working dancers never failed to trigger my imagination. As the years past, I retained my love of dance, of Degas, of art, and developed an interest in knowing more about the cross fertilization between art and dance.
DANCE IMAGES IN THE ART OF THE NETHERLANDS 